Against the current backdrop of funds that have become available from other sources in the federal budget, the German composites industry is appealing to politicians to once again support the TTP LB and its funding to the planned extent! The program must also be revived, especially for medium-sized companies and start-ups, to ensure their competitiveness and thus to secure and create future-proof jobs in order to ultimately contribute to maintaining prosperity in Germany.
With the Lightweight Construction Technology Transfer Program (TTP LB), the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK) provided important support for the successful transformation of companies active in this field. It was an innovation and transfer driver for energy and resource efficiency and a key factor in achieving the ambitious European and German climate protection targets. It was with great concern that the fiber composite and composites industry discovered that the program had fallen victim to the savings constraints of the federal budget at the beginning of this year. Lightweight construction was anchored as a key technology for Germany in the federal government’s coalition agreement and manifested in its subsequent lightweight construction strategy. If climate protection is a serious concern of the federal government, the lightweight construction technology transfer program must continue to be promoted.
Without lightweight construction, there will be no adequate climate protection. A concrete example: 70% of greenhouse gas emissions come from the use of fossil fuels such as natural gas, oil and coal, mainly to generate energy. Therefore, the transformation towards renewable energy generation, e.g. through wind energy and green hydrogen, is crucial for the success of the European Green Deal. Both technologies cannot be implemented without lightweight construction: wind turbines use multi-material lightweight construction with glass fiber reinforced plastics, carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP), wood and metals and the hydrogen is stored in CFRP containers.
Furthermore, lightweight construction is a game-changer technology for Germany: this innovative and competitive key technology can save both materials in production and energy in the subsequent use of the products. Industries such as construction, mechanical engineering and the entire transportation sector can benefit greatly from this.
Particularly against the backdrop of the current problems in the German automotive industry, innovations in lightweight construction concepts for cars and trucks supported by subsidies appear to be essential for the competitiveness of this important economic sector in Germany.
At a European level, the composites industry has been vigorously promoting a European lightweighting strategy through the European Lightweighting Network (ELN) launched by the BMWK and has already found many European partners. In order to continue to lead the way as a driving force and shaper and to be able to credibly promote lightweight construction as a key technology for Europe, active political support within the framework of the TTP LB in Germany is essential.
Companies in Germany, and SMEs in particular, are facing international competition that they can only withstand through innovative and more efficient products. They are faced with the major new challenge of making their products and production sustainable in terms of climate protection. There is great international competition and pressure in this area, particularly from the USA and China, which provide high subsidies for this. The appeal to politicians is therefore not to allow the effective TTP LB funding instrument to expire, but to continue to support SMEs and thus industry in Germany in pursuing climate protection across all sectors with lightweight construction solutions that are in line with prosperity!
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